Thermometer registered 0°C on the nose but my searchea for frost yielded nothing. It definitely felt colder than at Chute Lake for some reason.
I hastily made my breakfast, hoping that the warm coffe and oats would toast me up inside. While pouring hot water into my thermos I found some ice on the edge of the picnic table, success.
By 8:15 I was all packed up and although the sun was beginning to creep down the hills it still felt pretty chilly so I layered up with sweater and gloves again.
Soon I was hot on the trail of the KVR, finding my access point a little ways down a gravel road. As I have come to expect, the first few km were pretty ravaged by vehicle traffic but I hit on a few sections where ATVs were unable to sneak onto the trail and things improved.
As the sun finally peeked into my face I was back in lands ruled by the ATV and had to drop my speed a bit to dodge rocks and ruts. The temperature quickly rose and just as I was looking to layer down and pee I found a wild (feral?) apple tree! Very neat and while the apples were fairly small, it was good to have fresh fruit.
By late morning I began getting into farmlands at the bottom of the valley and the trail often required me to pass through and relatch livestock gates. However, this afforded me some riding through gorgeous open fields and along a quiet, crystal clear river.
A quick lunch break and water top up saw me the last few kilometers of the rail trail into Rock Creek and the Crowsnest Highway, where I passed through once before on the Cross Canada tour in 2018. Not as nostalgic as I expected but then again, I was going the opposite direction back then.
Since it was only 12:30 I made the judgement call to go another 50 km to Osooyoos for the day, knowing that there would be a significant and long climb out of Rock Creek.
Steeling myself with some butter tarts from the gas station I shifted into the little ring and began up the hill.
The temperature crept into the mid 20s.
There was no breeze.
No shade.
Just 800m of climbing into the blazing sun.
I had to stop at a few points to layer down, apply sunscreen and refill water bottles but eventually I made it over the summit and began the long downhill to Osooyoos.
Unfortunately my hopes of screaming down Anarchist Mountain at mach 10 were soon dashed when I hit road construction that would only end in the last kilometer of the descent. Adding to my sweaty body the flying sand and dust from passing vehicles and I looked pretty unsavoury as I rolled into town.
I made a quick pitstop to the gelato shop, where I got a snack and asked to see my entry in the bicycle tourists logbook from 2018. Sure enough, there it was. Ahhhh there's the nostalgia.
A few moments of panic soon followed when I got to the Provincial Park and found it to be full. Calling around town seemed to indicate that all the other campgrounds in town had closed for the season. I was steeling myself to ride another hour and pray that the next Provincial Park had space when I reached someone at a campground/RV resort on the other side of town. They had sites!
I sprinted over as quickly as possible just in case and secured a somewhat costly site but it had power and water so I wasn't too upset.
I checked my data for the last few days and realized I may be behind on calories so I made a big pot of mashed potatoes for dinner and then relaxed with a walk around the beach area at sunset.
Remarking at the blood red moon rising (with what eerily looked to be a skull in the crater formations) and gazing across the lake at the US border, I began making plans for another bike tour next week.
Finally, I brushed my teeth and slipped into bed.
Still warm at 8:15 pm and nicely secure and quiet. Should be a good sleep tonight.
Tomorrow is an easy 65 km back to Penticton to pick up my car.
Free trailside snacks.
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